Star Trek: Discovery Theory - Is This Why The Ship Docks In An Asteroid?
Will CBS' new Trek series centre around Section 31?
Big kudos to Hercules at AICN for perceptively deducing what he calls a "crackpot theory" regarding CBS' newly christened Star Trek: Discovery tv show but one which I suggest sounds right on the money.
The first images of the starship U.S.S. Discovery (which appears to be our main character vessel for the new show) hit Comic Con yesterday with the intriguing numerical designation of NCC-1031.
In Star Trek lore, '31' has a very specific connotation....
In Deep Space Nine, an autonomous intelligence division was introduced that worked outside of the ethical constraints of Starfleet to deal with "extraordinary" threats against the federation.
Its name originated from the Starfleet charter Article 14, Section 31 that encourages them to "bend the rules" to serve their purpose of defending "the United Federation of Planets by any means necessary" and they answered to no-one.
J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness recently featured the secret organisation as unsympathetic villains with Starfleet Admiral Marcus as the figurehead. This alternative version differed from the Prime universe in that it existed as a secret branch of Starfleet.
Is the 31 numerical distinction a dead giveaway that Star Trek: Discovery will be heavily centered around this secret service of space?
Would that explain why images of the starship using an Asteroid for docking hit the web as part of yesterday's presentation, a smart way for the vessel to stay hidden and off the radar?
It's an intriguing possibility and a black-ops of the Federation would give this new Star Trek series a really unique hook that makes it wildly different from the past shows that were also set in the Prime universe.
Star Trek: Discovery executive producer Bryan Fuller revealed that the new series will debut in January 2017 on CBS' streaming services. We recently learned that each episode would hit Netflix in non-US and Canada territories 24 hours after airing.
Fuller teased it would aim to tell longer-based stories and wouldn't be episodic as such, with arcs running over several chapters.
The few shots of the ship's design are reminiscent of Ralph McQuarrie's concept art for the ultimately unrealised Star Trek: Planet Of The Apes Starship Enterprise way back in the 70s that pre-dated Star Trek: The Motion Picture in an attempt to get the show back on our screens.
A smart decision to tap into something very recongisable for hardcore trekkies who have probably felt a bit alienated in the past ten years without a tv show to latch on to and the J.J. Abrams movies not really being aimed at them.